


The Serenading of Tony Stark

by ivoughrie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Fluff, M/M, Singing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, idk bucky plays a guitar and sings to tony, that's basically it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivoughrie/pseuds/ivoughrie
Summary: Tony lets out a sigh and composes himself. He’s here for a reason. “Look, I’ve been listening to you sing for the past couple of months and honestly I’ve been falling asleep to your voice for those months and I’m sorry for listening and singing along and scaring you or whatever, but I’d really appreciate it if you started opening your window again while you sing because now I can’t sleep and you’d be doing me a favor. I actually really enjoyed it.”orThe one where they're neighbors and Bucky keeps leaving his window open while he sings and Tony listens through his own open window.





	The Serenading of Tony Stark

Tony is someone who often forgets to sleep. He is also someone who, when he  _ tries _ to sleep, will lie awake and stare at the ceiling, hoping for his brain to shut off while a million ideas run through his head, making him anxious to climb out of bed and start working again. 

 

He has his apartment window open as he works, completely unaware of how long he has been awake. He thinks he saw the sun rise at least twice, and that should probably give him some sort of indication, but he doesn’t want to focus on that. 

 

That’s when he hears it. Singing drifting in through his open window. He steps back from the circuitry laid out in front of him and blinks. He’s lived here for a couple of years and he’s never heard any of his neighbors sing before. But it persists, the song coming in and demanding his attention. He listens to the man’s voice, singing low and softly, but still loud enough to carry into Tony’s apartment. He doesn’t recognize the song but it sounds like a lullaby, so he sits down on his couch and continues to listen. He’s asleep before he realizes it. When he wakes it’s dark out and the singing has stopped. 

 

* * *

 

It happens again. This time Tony isn’t working, instead it’s nearing 4AM and he’s been in his bed for a good hour. He had opened the window as it was cold enough outside to cool off the apartment, and Pepper and Rhodey are constantly nagging him to get some fresh air more often. 

 

The singing comes in more clearly this time. Tony can hear it better from his bedroom, meaning that it’s the neighbor on his left. Tony doesn’t interact with his neighbors, he can’t place the names or faces of any of them. He has no idea if he’s ever seen the guy, but he listens to him sing and is pretty sure he’d be content with the guy singing him to sleep every night. 

 

The songs continue for a while. The guy switches from one to another, some more upbeat than others, but always with a hint of sadness mixed in regardless of how joyous the lyrics may sound. Tony’s not one for soft songs, preferring his music to be loud and angry instead, but for once he doesn’t mind. He closes his eyes, let’s the man’s voice wash over him. It works just as well as the first time because Tony soon falls asleep once again. 

 

* * *

 

It keeps happening. Tony’s probably never slept this well in his life but it keeps happening and it’s starting to become an inconvenience. He has work to do, he’s a busy person and he has things to get done. He can’t finish anything if he keeps falling asleep in the middle of working. 

 

Of course he knows that he could just close his windows and he probably wouldn’t hear the singing, but he likes having them open as he works and if he’s honest with himself, he’s started to look forward to the songs. 

He doesn’t even mind when his neighbor is obviously practicing. Playing songs on an acoustic guitar (which Tony normally prefers electric but he’s starting to see the appeal) and trying to hit high notes. Tony likes hearing the progression of it and finally  _ finally  _ getting to hear the final product when his neighbor figures it out. 

 

Today is one of those days when his neighbor is practicing. It’s easier for Tony because the constant starting and stopping is less likely to put him to sleep. But he’s heard the start of the song often enough at this point that when it starts up again, he finds himself singing along without really realizing it. At least until he hears his neighbor stop abruptly. 

 

Then he hears the frantic shutting of a window. Tony frowns as he looks out his own window. Well fuck, he probably shouldn’t have revealed that he’s been eavesdropping. 

 

* * *

 

Tony’s incredibly frustrated. It seems that he had spooked his neighbor enough that the window now stays firmly closed. Which means that Tony is back to his normal self-destructive sleeping habits. It’s been a little over a week and Tony keeps waking up and going through the day hoping that he’ll hear the singing again, but it never happens.

 

It’s nearing midnight and he had tried going to sleep at a normal time, he really had. But after an hour of lying awake he decides that it’s not going to work, so he swings his legs over the side of his bed and leaves his apartment. He pauses at his neighbor’s door and takes a breath before he knocks.

 

Tony forgets what he had even come over here for the moment the guy opens the door. He blinks sleepily at Tony. His hair is thrown into a messy bun, loose strands coming out of it that must’ve fallen out as he slept. He’s wearing powder blue pajama bottoms with cat paw prints on them and has completely forgone a shirt. Tony’s mouth goes dry as he takes in his neighbor because apparently the gods that decide who your neighbors are have smiled upon him and blessed him and, honestly, Tony should have come by to say hi months ago. Except now he’s staring and the guy just keeps blinking at him looking more confused by the second. 

 

“Um, hi,” Tony says dumbly. 

 

“Hi?” 

 

Tony lets out a sigh and composes himself. He’s here for a reason. “Look, I’ve been listening to you sing for the past couple of months and honestly I’ve been falling asleep to your voice for those months and I’m sorry for listening and singing along and scaring you or whatever, but I’d really appreciate it if you started opening your window again while you sing because now I can’t sleep and you’d be doing me a favor. I actually really enjoyed it.” 

 

The guy just stares at him, so Tony says, “If you could just do that, that’d be great. Okay I’ll let you sleep now. Bye.” Then he turns on his heel and goes back to his apartment before he can do anything dumb. 

 

He climbs back into bed and after ten minutes of lying there he hears the quiet strumming of a guitar and his neighbor’s voice starts to creep in through the window again. He smiles as he shuts his eyes and listens to the song. 

 

* * *

 

Things go back to normal after that. Sometimes they talk through their open windows. It’s never much, but it’s enough for Tony to at least put a name to his neighbor. Who tells him to just call him Bucky. Tony does his best not to sing along again, but he slips up every now and then it seems to throw Bucky off. Tony mumbles out an apology while Bucky assures him that it’s fine. 

 

Eventually Bucky starts asking if Tony has any requests. It’s usually when Tony’s in bed and trying to sleep. He doesn’t know the name of the songs, but he has a few favorites that he’s heard Bucky sing over the past few months, so he normally says a line and that’s enough for Bucky to know which one he’s talking about. 

 

They don’t ever go over to each other’s apartments or converse aside from talking out their windows. Tony sometimes sits out on his deck just so he can hear Bucky sing more clearly. They build up a routine and Tony does his best not to disrupt it, because he’d rather not have Bucky shut his window for a week again. 

 

* * *

 

Tony’s frazzled. He has a deadline coming up and normally that wouldn’t be an issue for him, but it turns out that having a semi-normal sleep schedule does sort of mess with his productivity. Bucky continues to sing, but Tony doesn’t notice that they haven’t been talking like they usually do until Bucky knocks on his door one day. 

 

Tony opens up the door, despite being confused by the knocking. Then he frowns, wondering what the hell Bucky is doing there. He’s still as gorgeous as the first time Tony saw him and that isn’t fair. Tony’s sure that he looks like a mess currently, the stress must show on his face and he doubts that’s doing him any favors. 

 

“Hi?” Tony says. 

 

Bucky frowns at him. “Hi. Sorry, I just haven’t heard from you and wanted to make sure everything was okay.” 

 

It’s Tony’s turn to blink dumbly in surprise. That’s when he realizes he hasn’t been talking to Bucky. He’s been too caught up in his own work. 

 

“Yep. Everything’s fine. Just been busy. I have a tendency to sort of tune everything out when I get invested in something. I honestly didn’t even realize I haven’t been talking. Which is amazing for me, because trust me, if you knew me you’d know that I’m not really someone who stops talking. Kind of like I’m doing currently, actually.” 

 

Bucky smirks at him, like he’s amused by Tony’s rambling. Normally the reaction Tony gets to his rambling is annoyance, so he’s not sure what to do with that. 

 

“Have you slept?” Bucky asks, his eyes searching Tony’s face, and Tony’s certain that he has telling bags under his eyes. 

 

He’s forced himself to stay awake even when Bucky sings to him. Because this is important and he needs to finish. 

 

“Sure I have!” Tony insists. 

 

Bucky frowns at him again like he doesn’t believe him at all. “No, you haven’t. Just wait here. I’ll be right back.” 

 

“Wait no. Okay fine. I haven’t slept but I need to get this thing done. I have a deadline coming up,” Tony explains, hoping that Bucky will understand.

 

“When?” 

 

“Friday.”

 

“It’s Tuesday. You have a few days. I’ll be right back,” Bucky says again and then leaves before Tony can protest. 

 

He comes back with his guitar. Tony stares at him dumbly. 

 

“You need to rest,” Bucky insists. 

 

“So you came over to sing me to sleep?”

 

“Yes,” Bucky says seriously, even as the slightest blush shows on his cheeks. 

 

“And if I don’t want to?” 

 

“I will carry you to bed if I have to.” 

 

That’s enough to get Tony’s brain to short circuit for a minute so the next thing he says without thinking is, “Hot.” 

 

Bucky rolls his eyes at him, apparently completely unaffected, and manages to usher Tony into his bedroom. Honestly, Tony had imagined that if he ever got Bucky into his bedroom it’d be for much less innocent reasons than Bucky singing him to sleep. But he finds that he can’t complain about this either, so he crawls into bed and Bucky sits on the end of it as he starts to play. 

 

Tony falls asleep halfway through the song, not realizing how exhausted he is until he hits the pillow and Bucky starts singing. He remembers thinking that hearing Bucky up close like this is so much better than doing so through his window. He wants Bucky to stay and sing for him forever. Unfortunately, Bucky is gone by the time that he wakes and Tony’s left wondering if he dreamed the whole thing.

 

* * *

 

Tony remembers to talk after that. He goes a week without Bucky knocking on his door, but they resume their regular small conversations. Tony wakes up, makes his cup of coffee and then opens his window. 

 

“Tony?” he hears Bucky say. 

 

“Yep,” he responds. 

 

He doesn’t get anything else from Bucky so he shrugs and sits down and starts to drink his coffee instead. That’s when he hears the music. The intro is longer than the others and Tony doesn’t recognize it. Hasn’t ever heard Bucky practicing it and that’s sort of strange, since he’s gotten pretty good at recognizing Bucky’s songs. 

 

He continues to listen anyway. Something seems off about this one. It doesn’t have the usual tone of Bucky’s songs, and that’s when it hits him: it’s a lovesong. Something that Tony’s never heard Bucky do. It’s apparently one that he’s practiced often as well because Tony can’t hear him falter even once. He seems to get really into it. It’s beautiful and perfect and Tony wishes that Bucky would sing him a love song on purpose and not just because he leaves his window open and Bucky needs someone to practice on.

 

The song ends and Tony finds himself wishing that he had a recording so he could play it to himself all the time. So he could listen to it on repeat for the rest of the day. He’s sitting on his couch, coffee completely forgotten as he looks out his window in awe, when there’s a knock on the door. 

 

It takes him a moment to get up and answer it since he just continues to stare while trying to figure out what prompted the song. He sighs when he realizes that another song isn’t going to come up, and goes to answer the door instead. 

 

Bucky’s standing there holding a small bouquet of red and gold flowers that Tony recognizes as red columbines. 

 

Tony can’t do anything but stare at him, even as Bucky holds out the flowers for him to take. 

 

“Thank you?” he says, trying to process what’s happening. 

 

Bucky grins at him confidently and Tony already loves his smile. “How’d you like the song?”

 

“It was great,” he says honestly. 

 

“Good. It was for you.” 

 

Tony continues to stare at him, still not understanding what’s happening. 

 

That doesn’t seem to deter Bucky because he continues when Tony finally takes the flowers. “Wanna go to dinner with me tonight?” 

 

Tony keeps staring. 

 

“As in a date,” Bucky clarifies.

 

Tony’s brain finally decides to get with the program. At least long enough for him to let out a dumb, slow nod as he continues to glance between the flowers and Bucky in various levels of shock. Tony is normally better than this. He’s normally a lot smoother and can manage someone asking him out with a lot more grace and charm. 

 

Bucky smiles an amused smile at him and says, “Great. I’ll pick you up at eight.” Then he pauses for a moment, bites his lip slightly, and leans in to give Tony a kiss on the cheek before he leaves to go back to his own apartment. 

 

Tony shuts the door and puts the flowers in some water. He finally lets a smile spread across his face as he takes in everything that has happened. Bucky soon starts playing some of his regular songs and they drift in through Tony’s open window like always. Tony starts to work as he listens, killing time until their date. 

**Author's Note:**

> As usual this fic is a result of something [Elaine](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Vashoth) did in real life and this idea hit me in the face. She's mortified about it but I'm laughing and everyone else gets fluff out of it so win/win. 
> 
> A thank you to [Amethystina](http://archiveofourown.org/users/amethystina) for betaing this and putting up with me while I ignore every grammar rule known to man. Also for cracking me up with her comments on the doc. 
> 
> And of course to our discord server for being a bunch of enablers. If you want to join that and are 18+ the link that takes you to the welcome channel is [here.](https://discord.gg/A32YB6Y)
> 
> You can find me on tumblr [here](ivoughrie.tumblr.com)


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